Paris Olympics: Jessica Fox starts 2022 with canoe slalom wins on home waters at Oceania champs

Jessica Fox has raced in home waters for the first time in a year but something at the Oceania Canoe Slalom championships has made her “sad”.

Paddler Jessica Fox has kicked off her 2022 season with a double success on home waters at Penrith.

The Tokyo Olympic champion won both the K1 and C1 at the Oceania Canoe Slalom championships in Penrith on the weekend in the first major tournament of the year for the paddling superstar already plotting her campaign for Paris Olympics success in 2024.

But there was just one thing missing for Fox - a few international rivals.

“It’s good to be back racing but it’s a bit sad that we don’t have any internationals here this year, or even our neighbours from New Zealand,” Fox said.

“So it doesn’t really feel like an international race.

“But it’s always good to get on the start line and practice like it is and push yourself to get into that mindset again.”

Fox, whose young cousin competed at the event with success, said she is hoping her New Zealand counterparts are able to come to Sydney for the upcoming Australian Open at Penrith.

“Hopefully at the next race we will get some more starters,’’ she said.

Jessica Fox with the gold medal she won in the Canoe Slalom.

WHAT RIVALS SAID TO HELP JESSICA FOX AFTER SHE MISSED OLYMPIC GOLD

Jessica Fox broke our hearts with her tears after missing her first gold in Tokyo. Now she has revealed a special moment with a rival and what she did to win one two days later.

Jessica Fox cried publicly and privately when unexpected errors in her race deprived her of a gold medal in her first event at the Tokyo Olympics.

The Penrith paddler was on track for gold when disaster struck in her K1 event where she incurred two time penalties that dropped her from first to third.

Australia watched as the popular Fox broke down in tears with her coach and mother Myriam despite winning a bronze in the canoe slalom event she had entered as favourite.

Australia's Jessica Fox reacts after missing out on gold in her first Olympic event.

Fox has now revealed an emotional moment in the dressing room after the race with German gold medallist Ricarda Funk and Spain’s silver medal winner Maialen Chorrault which helped her move on from the shock loss to claim her gold medal in the C1 just days later.

“I cried a lot. I remember in the change room getting ready for the podium and I was sharing it with Ricarda,’’ she said. “We have quite a rivalry. We have shared the podium at the least three Olympics.

“I was so shattered with myself but it was special to be with them, Ricarda and Maialen.

“Ricardo said ‘I almost feel bad for winning. Maialen said me too’. It was a special moment. it helped.”

Olympians Mariafe Artacho del Solar, Taliqua Clancy, Keegan Palmer, Jessica Fox, Peter Bol, Alexander Purnell, Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves and Alexander Hill projected on the sails of the Sydney Opera House.

Fox said she then broke down again in a taxi returning to the Australian team accommodation in Tokyo.

“I cried it out,” she said. “Then I watched Friends and some trashy TV and tried to switch off.

“I talked to mum and dad, wrote down all negative things. It was a process of getting it all out.

“The next night I was more calm and focused. I tied to channel my energy.

“And I told myself how grateful I was just to be back in Tokyo and how lucky I was to have a second event.”

Fox is competing at the Oceania canoe slalom championships at Penrith which run from Friday to Sunday.

While New Zealanders are unable to get to Sydney to race, it is Fox's first major event in Australia since winning her gold and silver in Tokyo last year.

At Penrith she will race both her Olympic events, the K1 and C1, and also extreme canoe slalom, a new event debuting at the Paris Games in 2024.

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